We have been so many places lately where there was little or no reception that we are Siriusly considering subscribing. Although we take music with us we want news and current events and have had trouble getting those. We will wait to subscribe in February for the next big trip but feel the cost will be worth it to us.

We have been so many places lately where there was little or no reception that we are Siriusly considering subscribing. Although we take music with us we want news and current events and have had trouble getting those. We will wait to subscribe in February for the next big trip but feel the cost will be worth it to us.

One point to note - if you like to camp in the mountains, you will discover that you need a fairly clear view of the south sky to pick up anything. Even tree cover can block the signal. The further north you go the worst the problem. When I was in Alaska, I rarely was able to pick up any XM stations unless camped in an open field with no mountains to the south...

Our new vehicles came with Sirius XM, but we have since let it expire. I prefer local stations and where there is nothing locally, I listen to canned music. I also found that although there was numerous XM stations, I liked very few of them, and those I did like seemed to have a play list that was 10 songs long.

We also found that the satellite radio was constantly cutting in and out on some roads in the mountains where the valley walls were high and steep.

__________________
2013 19' \ 2013 15B, 2011 Toyota FJ Cruiser

"It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it." - 1907, Maurice Switzer

If you live in Canada and are considering getting satellite radio, be sure to get Sirius, NOT XM. XM is the Canadian portion of the SiriusXM product and Sirius comes from the US.

When we purchased out Toyota Tacoma, we got a free one-month trial of XM. We rarely had any decent reception and the audio quality sucked. Needles to say, we didn't subscribe. The service tech at our Toyota dealer told us that Sirius, not XM, had much better reception and to give that a try. We went for a trial subscription and were very pleased.

We did some research and found out that the XM and Sirius are broadcast from two different satellites, XM being directed more at eastern Canada, southern Ontario in particular, and Sirius being more centered over the continental US. We have traveled from southern Florida to northern BC and have never had any reception issues except things like dense tree cover or being behind mountains.

Our two main complaints with Sirius are that they seem to have very short playlists for the '60s and '70 stations and that they only have one classical music station that plays mainly piano or violin music (we prefer orchestral selections).

So, when subscribing, stay away from SiriusXM.ca and go with SiriusXM.com. You'll be glad you did.

If you live in Canada and are considering getting satellite radio, be sure to get Sirius, NOT XM. XM is the Canadian portion of the SiriusXM product and Sirius comes from the US.

When we purchased out Toyota Tacoma, we got a free one-month trial of XM. We rarely had any decent reception and the audio quality sucked. Needles to say, we didn't subscribe. The service tech at our Toyota dealer told us that Sirius, not XM, had much better reception and to give that a try. We went for a trial subscription and were very pleased.

We did some research and found out that the XM and Sirius are broadcast from two different satellites, XM being directed more at eastern Canada, southern Ontario in particular, and Sirius being more centered over the continental US. We have traveled from southern Florida to northern BC and have never had any reception issues except things like dense tree cover or being behind mountains.

Our two main complaints with Sirius are that they seem to have very short playlists for the '60s and '70 stations and that they only have one classical music station that plays mainly piano or violin music (we prefer orchestral selections).

So, when subscribing, stay away from SiriusXM.ca and go with SiriusXM.com. You'll be glad you did.

Doug

Doug were you able to use the same radio in your Tacoma when you signed up for Sirius? I thought you were stuck with whatever came with the vehicle.

Doug were you able to use the same radio in your Tacoma when you signed up for Sirius? I thought you were stuck with whatever came with the vehicle.

Jim

When we signed up for the free Sirius trial period, we also got a "free" receiver, cigarette lighter adapter and antenna. We didn't have to use the onboard truck radio. It was a good thing, too because the truck's antenna is located in the middle of the truck roof. When we have the canoe on it effectively blocks out the reception. I mounted the antenna on the outside of our roof rack and now it's all good .

If you live in Canada and are considering getting satellite radio, be sure to get Sirius, NOT XM. XM is the Canadian portion of the SiriusXM product and Sirius comes from the US.

... The service tech at our Toyota dealer told us that Sirius, not XM, had much better reception and to give that a try. We went for a trial subscription and were very pleased.

We did some research and found out that the XM and Sirius are broadcast from two different satellites, XM being directed more at eastern Canada, southern Ontario in particular, and Sirius being more centered over the continental US. We have traveled from southern Florida to northern BC and have never had any reception issues except things like dense tree cover or being behind mountains.

It's not quite that simple, but Sirius should be better in Canada (which is ironic, since XM was originally for Canada).

XM actually has two satellites, positioned to the east and west in geostationary orbits, so they always appear to be the same two places in the sky, just like TV satellites... so like TV, the angle from up here is quite close to the horizon and it would be easy to lose signal in a valley (especially one running east-west). Although they are in different locations, both transmit patterns that cover the whole width of the continent.

Sirius has three satellites running in an interesting "tundra" orbit so that they're always moving relative to us on the surface, but there's always one of them over North America... so even up here one at a time is relatively straight up and reception is likely.

The XM versus Sirius difference isn't really about east versus west; the Sirius advantage is important to us who are further north, and no so important to those who are south.